Apparatus for effecting



Jan. 21, 1964 o. PETTERSSON 3,118,307

APPARATUS FOR EFFECTING, IN A SUBMERGED CONDITION, THE DISPLACEMENT OF AMOVABLE MEMBER FROM oNE POSITION INTO ANOTHER Filed June 6. 1961INVENTOR LARS OLOF PETTLRSSOI ATTORNEYS United States Patent APPARATUSFOR EFFECTING, IN A SUBMERGEI) CONDITION, THE DISPLACEMENT ()F A MGV-ABLE MEMBER FRSM ONE PGSITIGN INTG ANGTHER Lars Olof Pettersson,Ljungskile, Sweden Filed June 6, 1961, Ser. No. 115,156 Claims priority,application Sweden June 8, 1960 5 Claims. (Cl. 73425.4)

The present invention relates to an apparatus for effecting, in acondition of being submerged into water, the displacement of a movablemember from one position into another.

The invention is mainly characterised in that the apparatus comprisestwo rods or the like slidably mounted in a carrier to be displaceablelongitudinally towards and away from each other therein, one of theserods being adapted on being displaced from one position to anotherposition relative to the carrier to etfect displacement of said movablemember, and the other rod being adapted to be connected at its endremote from the first-mentioned rod and projecting from the carrier,with a handling line or the like serving for submerging the apparatusinto water, and in that a permanent magnet and an armature co-operatingtherewith are secured to the respective ones of the two adjacent ends ofthe two rods in order to efiect releasable magnetical interconnection ofthe rods.

According to the invention, one rod is suitably dis placeable relativeto the carrier by an amount which is greater than the extent ofdisplacement of said other rod in the same sense, whereby, from a stateof being interconnected through the magnet and armature, the rods can beseparated from each other by moving the rod connected to the handlingline towards its end position in said sense of displacement whileovercoming the magnetic attraction.

In this instance, the rod connected to the handling line mayadvantageously be influenced, at least along the portion of its path ofdisplacement adjacent to the end position thereof stated in thepreceding paragraph, by a spring urging the rod away from said endposition.

In its position of use, the apparatus is suspended on the handling linethrough the intermediary of the rod connected thereto and being in anuppermost end position, while the other rodbeing disposed below thefirstmentioned rod in the position of use of the apparatusis disposed ina lowermost end position, provided the two rods are not at the momentinterconnected. If the apparatus is subjected to acceleration for abrief moment by making a sudden jerk on the handling line, then thiswill result in a relative movement between the various parts of theapparatus causing the displaceable rods to approach each othersufiiceintly to enable the permanent magnet disposed on one rod toattract the armature provided on the other rod, thereby interconnectingthe two rods. As will be appreciated, as the movement of the pulled lineceases, the carrier will move by gravity downward relative to theinterconnected rods. Thus the lower rod will have been caused to movefrom a lowermost end position into an uppermost end position relative tothe carrier, and it is this movement which is intended to be utilizedfor actuating an adjustable member. In the case of the above-specifiedembodiment in which the upper rod is displaceable by a greater amountthan the-lower rod, it is possible by a jerk on the handling line todisconnect the upper rod from the lower one, whereby the upper rod willbe moved into its topmost end position relative the carrier, and thelower rod will drop by gravity into its lowermost end position thenexecuting a renewed adjustment of the adjustable member.

One field of application to which the invention is particularlyadvantageously adapted is the bringing up of samples of water fromvarious depths in a watercourse, well or the like. In this case themember to be adjusted comprises a closure for a test bottle or similarreceptacle for the water sample. An embodiment of the invention which isparticularly designed for this purpose is characterised in that thecarrier is provided with means for securing the test bottle thereto withits mouth facing the end of the rod not connected to the handling lineand projecting from the carrier, said end carrying the closure which isin the form of a cap of soft rubber or the like, the whole arrangementbeing such that, in the interconnected state of the rods, the cap isremoved from the mouth of the bottle, whereas, in the disengaged stateof the rods, the cap is maintained by the weight load of its carryingrod in sealing engagement with the edge of the bottle month. By means ofan apparatus constructed in this way, the test bottle in a condition ofbeing sealed by the closure member may be submerged to the desired depthafter which, by a jerk on the handling line, the closure member is movedto a position uncovering the bottle mouth, whereby the bottle is filledwith water. By a further jerk on the handling line, the closure memberis returned into its position sealing oif the bottle.

In order to enable the sealing cap, in the immersed condition of theapparatus, to be readily removed from the bottle mouth irrespective ofthe ambient water pressure, according to the invention, the cap issuitably provided in one side thereof with a lateral slit cut into itfrom its external peripheral surface to a passageway formed in the capand opening at its portion facing the mouth of the test bottle. Owing tothis arrangement, on exerting a pull on the cap, the interior of thebottle will be placed in communication with the ambient water throughsaid pasasgeway and slit enabling a pressure equalization to occur whichin turn enables the cap to be removed from the bottle mouth.

According to a further feature of the invention, the means for securingthe test bottle to the carrier suitably comprises an internallyscrew-threaded ring or nut screwable to be axially displaceable along anexternally screwthreaded cylindrical portion of the carrier and carryingtwo levers pivoted thereto at substantially diametrically oppositepositions, said levers being provided at their ends directed away fromthe carrier with elements adapted to grip the neck portion of the testbottle, and engaging at their opposite ends a preferably conicallytapered cam portion of the carrier.

The accompanying drawing illustrates an apparatus for bringing up watersamples and constructed in accordance with one embodiment of theinvention.

FIGURE 1 is a longitudinal section through the apparatus, and

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged cross section taken on line 11-11 in FIGURE 1.

In the detailed description to follow hereinafter, for the sake ofsimplicity, the relative positions of the various parts of the apparatuswill be related to the position of use of the apparatus, i.e. the termstop and bottom ends of the apparatus refer to the position thereof shownin FIGURE 1. The apparatus comprises a carrier 1 in the form of anelongated hollow body of revolution, the carrier being, in theembodiment shown, composed of two parts, the upper one of which,designated by 2, having an externally screw-threaded end portion 3 whichis threadedly engaged into an internally screwthreaded portion of thelower part designated by 4.

The upper carrier part 2 is formed with a cylindrical bore 5 which isopen at its bottom end and connects at its upper end to a bore portion 6of reduced diameter, the latter portion in its turn connecting to a bore7 open ing in the top end of the carrier part and being of smallerdiameter than the bore portion 6. Longitudinally slidably mounted in thebore 7 is a rod 8 which is provided in its upper end portion projectingfrom the carrier with a hole 9 for fastening a handling line. At itsopposite, bottom end the rod 8 is provided with a circumferential collar10 adapted by engagement with the annular shoulder 11 forming thetransition between the bores 5 and 6 to limit the upward movement of therod relative to the carrier. Surrounding the lower end portion of therod is a compression coil spring 13 having one end supported on thecollar 19 and its other end on the annular shoulder 12 forming thetransition between the bores 6 and 7. In addition, the rod 8 carries atits bottom end a plate 15 secured to the rod by a screw 14 and beingmade of a magnetic material, preferably soft iron.

The internal bore of the lower carrier part 4 and having the uppercarrier part 2 threaded into it at its end portion 3, is designated by16 in the drawing. Extending from the bottom of the bore 16 is a bore 17which opens in the bottom end of the carrier and is coaxially alignedwith the bore 7 in the upper carrier part 2, this bore 17 havinglongitudinally slidably received therein a rod 18 having its lower endprojecting from the carrier and carrying at its top end disposed withinthe bore 16 a permanent magnet 19.

The carrier part 4 is formed at its bottom end with a downwardlyconically tapering portion 2t? and, extending downwardly from thelatter, with a screw-threaded end portion or boss 21 along which aninternally screwthreaded ring or nut 22 is displaceable by screwing. Thering 22 carries two diametrically oppositely disposed levers 23 which,at points spaced from their upper ends, are pivotally mounted on pivotpins 25 in radial slots 24, respectively, formed in the ring. Theselevers 23 are provided at their lower ends with jaws 26 facing eachother in a plane at right angles to the longitudinal axes of the leversand adapted to grip the neck portion of a bottle indicated in FIGURE 1by double-dot-and-dash lines and designated by 27. The levers 23 areformed at their upper ends with rounded edge portions or cam surfaces2-8 adapte to engage the comically tapered portion 21) of the carrier.The cam surfaces 28 co-operate with the conical portion 2i) of thecarrier in order to rock the bottom ends of the levers towards eachother as the ring 22 is screwed to move upward along the screwthreadedextension or boss 21 of the carrier, thereby causing the jaws 26 toclose and grip the neck of a bottle in the manner indicated in FIGURE 1.By screwing the ring 22 with its levers 23 in a direction to movedownward along the boss 21, it will be possible to rock the lower endsof the levers away from each other to release the bottle.

For closing the bottle 27, a cap 2? made of soft rubber or the like isdetachably connected to the bottom end of rod 18, whereby, by endwisedisplacement of the rod 18, this cap is movable towards and away fromthe mouth of the bottle. The cap 29 is connected to the rod 13 by ashank 39 having one end thereof secured in the cap and having its freeend portion introduced into an axial bore 31 formed in the end of rod18. The rod 18 has formed in its externfl surface a circumferentialgroove 32 surrounding the bore 31 and having a spring 33 disposedtherein. At one side thereof, the groove penetrates the wall thicknessof the bore 31, allowing the portion 33a of the spring 33 adjacent thisportion of the groove to project into the bore 31 (see FIG. 2). Theshank 39 of the rubber cap 29 is formed in one side with a lateralrecess adapted to be engaged by said portion 33a of spring 33 to therebyconnect the cap cletachably to the rod 18. The cap 2? is further formedwith a passageway 34 opening in the surface thereof facing the bottlemouth, and a slit designated by 35 is cut into the same from itsperipheral surface to this passageway 34.

The soft-iron plate 15 mounted on the bottom end of rod S'serves as anarmature adapted to co-operate with the Permanent magnet 9 o ed on thetop end of the lowermost rod 18. If the upper rod 3 is displaceddownward towards the magnet 19, then the latter will attract thearmature 15, whereby the two rods 8 and 18 will be detachablyinterconnected, as indicated by the position of rod 8 shown indouble-dot-and-dash lines in FIGURE 1. If the rod 8 is thereupondisplaced upward relative to the carrier 1, therefore, it will carry thelower rod 18 with it in this movement, whereby the sealing cap 29 islifted off the mouth of the bottle '27. The upward movement is limitedby the magnet 19 impinging against the annular edge surface of theportion 3 of the upper carrier part 2 received in the lower part 4. Todisengage the two rods 8 and 18 from each other, the upper rod 8 issubjected to an upwardly directed force (or the carrier 1 to adownwardly directed force) sufficient to overcome the magneticattraction power and by which the rod 8 is moved to its top-end positionrelative to the carrier. At the same time, the rod 18, owing to its ownweight and that of the magnet 19', will drop back by gravity to itsbottom-end position, whereby the cap 29 is moved into a position inwhich it sealingly engages the mouth of the bottle 27. in the actual useof the apparatus, the apparatus is submerged to the desired water depthby means of its handling line (not shown in the drawing) fastenedthrough the hole 9 in rod 8, and with the two rods 8 and '13 separatedfrom each other, whereby the bottle 27 is maintained sealed off by itscap 2d while being lowered to the depth at which the sample is to bedrawn. By a jerk on the ling line, a relative displacement is caused tooccur between the rod 8 and carrier 1, whereby the rod 8 will slidedownwards relative to the carrier and will thus be magneticallyinterconnected with rod 13 in the manner described hereinbefore. Thespring 13 acting on the rod 8 provides an auxiliary force for effectingthis relative displacement. When, during the subsequent relativemovement between the rod 18 and the carrier 1, the sealing cap issubjected to pull in a direction away from the bottle mouth, it will besubjected to a slight deformation causing the slit 35 to open upallowing water to flow into the bottle 27 through the slit 35 andpassageway 34. When, in this wa a sulficient degree of pressureequalization ha been established between the interior of the bottle andthe ambient water, then the cap 29 will be released completely from thebottle mouth. This will cause the carrier to drop by gravity relative tothe interconnected rods 3 and 18 suspended on the handling line into theabove-described position with the end portion of the upper carrier part2 engaging the magnet 19. When it is estimated that the bottle has beenfilled with water, then by a new jerk on the handling line, the upperrod 8 is released from the lower rod and is moved to its topmost endposition, whereby the lower rod 18 is allowed to drop to its bottom-endposition, thereby moving the cap 25 to its position sealing 0d thebottle mouth.

Although the invention has been described hereinbefore in an embodimentspecifically adapted tothe application of bringing up water samples fromdifferent depths, it is applicable also for other purposes, Thus, forexample, the apparatus may be equipped with a temperature recordingdevice or any other type of measuring or recording arrangement forexploring underwater conditions, in which case the device or arrangementconcerned would be put into operation by means of a member positionableor adjustable in the manner herein described, only after the desiredwater depth has been reached, and would be disabled after havingcompleted its measuring or recording function in order to maintain themeasurements of the like made without any alterations in the course ofthe apparatus being hauled up through the superimposed layers of water.Also inother respects the invention is not restricted to the embodimentdescribed hereinbefore and as illustrated merely by way of example inthe accompanying drawing, since it is susceptible of modifications as toits details without departing from the basic concept of the invention.

What I claim is:

1. Apparatus for efiecting, in a submerged condition, the displacementof a movable member from one position into another comprising a housing,a first rod and a second rod longitudinally slidable through saidhousing towards and away from each other, a suspending line beingconnected to the outer end of said first rod, said second rod beingoperatively connected with the movable member, a permanent magnet and anarmature being secured respectively to the inner ends of said rodswithin said housing for effecting magnetical interconnection of saidrods when displaced towards one another, movement limiting means fordefining the outer end positions for said rods, spring means urging saidfirst rod from its outer end position towards said second rod, and meanslimiting the inward movement of said second rod towards said first rodpermitting said armature to be disconnected from said permanent magnetby a jerk on said suspending line transmitted to said first rod movingsaid first rod away from said second rod against the action of saidspring means.

2. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, including means for connecting acontainer to said housing, a closure member for said container beingconnected to the outer end of said second rod and constituting themovable member, whereby said closure member will be removed from thecontainer opening and closing the same according to whether said secondrod is interconnected with said first rod or disengaged therefrom,respectively.

3. A liquid sampler comprising a carrier member, a supporting andcontrol line connected to said carrier member, means for securing acontainer having an opening to said carrier member, a closure member forsaid container opening carried by said carrier member and means operableby said supporting and control line for moving said closure membertowards and away from said container opening for closing and opening thecontainer, respectively, and said closure member comprising a cap offlexible material having a narrow slit provided in said cap and adaptedto be opened up for providing a liquid passage through said cap when thelatter is flexed under the influence of a pull in a direction away fromsaid container opening.

4. A liquid sampler comprising a carrier member having a taperingexterior cam portion, a suspending line connected to said carrier memberfor lowering said carrier member into a liquid, a sample container andmeans for detachably securing said sample container to said carriermember, said means comprising a cylindrical threaded portion on saidcarrier member, a nut screwable on said threaded portion for beingaxially displaceable therealong, a pair of levers pivoted to said nut atsubstantially diametrically opposite positions and extending in an axialplane relative to said nut, gripping elements provided at those ends ofsaid levers which are directed away from said carrier member, and theopposite ends of said levers engaging said tapering cam portion of saidcarrier mem er, whereby said levers may be swung towards and away fromeach other for holding and releasing said sample container,respectively, by axially displacing said nut.

5. A liquid sampling device comprising a housing, a pair of rodsslidabiy mounted through said housing with inner ends opposing oneanother and outer ends exterioriy of said housing, a control lineconnected to one of said rod outer ends, an armature connected to theinner end of said one of said rods, a magnet connected to the inner endof the other of said rods, means for closing and opening a containercarried by the outer end of said other rod, means for detachablyconnecting a container to said housing, means provided by said housingfor limiting the movement of said magnet and resilient means tending tomove said armature towards said magnet.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,564,894 Glasgow Aug. 21, 1951 2,595,084 Kriegel Apr. 29, 19522,933,388 Byrnes lViay 31, 1960 FOREIGN PATENTS 674,166 Great BritainJune 18, 1952.

1. APPARATUS FOR EFFECTING, IN A SUBMERGED CONDITION, THE DISPLACEMENTOF A MOVABLE MEMBER FROM ONE POSITION INTO ANOTHER COMPRISING A HOUSING,A FIRST ROD AND A SECOND ROD LONGITUDINALLY SLIDABLE THROUGH SAIDHOUSING TOWARDS AND AWAY FROM EACH OTHER, A SUSPENDING LINE BEINGCONNECTED TO THE OUTER END OF SAID FIRST ROD, SAID SECOND ROD BEINGOPERATIVELY CONNECTED WITH THE MOVABLE MEMBER, A PERMANENT MAGNET AND ANARMATURE BEING SECURED RESPECTIVELY TO THE INNER ENDS OF SAID RODSWITHIN SAID HOUSING FOR EFFECTING MAGNETICAL INTERCONNECTION OF SAIDRODS WHEN DISPLACED TOWARDS ONE ANOTHER, MOVEMENT LIMITING MEANS FORDEFINING THE OUTER END POSITIONS FOR SAID RODS, SPRING MEANS URGING SAIDFIRST ROD FROM ITS OUTER END POSITION TOWARDS SAID SECOND ROD, AND MEANSLIMITING THE INWARD MOVEMENT OF SAID SECOND ROD TOWARDS SAID FIRST RODPERMITTING SAID ARMATURE TO BE DISCONNECTED FROM SAID PERMA-